Rivermont Records

31/12/2023

Royce Martin's Kickstarter for his new Scott Joplin Rivermont album is 88% funded with only 10 hours to go! We're almost there! This is an incredible recording by a talent who deserves to be heard. In the course of production, I listened to this album literally hundreds of times and I never tire of it. I guarantee you will LOVE IT! Please share and help us reach the finish line to make the vinyl records a reality. We're sooooo close! Thank you and Happy New Year! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/memoriesonmorganst/memories-on-morgan-street-scott-joplin-reimagined-by-royce?ref=discovery&term=royce%20martin

01/12/2023

What an absolute blast it has been working with the *amazing* The Fried Seven of Amsterdam. Their debut album "Late to the Party" will be released on Rivermont next month, but in the meantime, here's a little teaser: step inside the recording studio with the band as they play the 1920s hot jazz tune "Too Bad"!

Too Bad is the second single of our up-coming album "Late to the Party" that will be released in January 2024 with Rivermont Records! "They add their own twi...

05/11/2023

This little stack is all that remains of our stock of the Chicago Cellar Boys' terrific 4-track 78 rpm EP. We started in 2019 with about 500 copies... now we have fewer than 20 left. Some exceptional hot jazz in these grooves played by Andy Schumm, Paul Asaro, John Otto, Dave Bock, and John Donatowicz! Once they're gone, they're gone! We will *not* be pressing any more of these. Pick yours up over at the Rivermont website: https://rivermontrecords.com/products/596?variant=29226501308477

03/11/2023

Now and Then a band comes along that totally captures our imagination! Yesterday we got back with the Fab Four, but guess who's in town today? That's right — The fab Fried Seven! We are thrilled to announce the release of the group's debut single: "Guess Who's in Town."

Give it a listen!
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IoMxKCbadU
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/5nwmmuSgV31oNjfV0SZsKu?si=zN5b7b5CRX6wIxJ4yw9zOA

(Watch for the full album in January -- on CD, vinyl, and digital!)

Purveyors of the hottest jazz in Amsterdam (or anywhere else), The Fried Seven bring new life and excitement to old styles, dazzling audiences with fresh takes on the music of King Oliver, Jelly Roll Morton, Louis Armstrong, and others. Can you dig it?

Provided to YouTube by Virtual Label LLCGuess Who's in Town · The Fried SevenGuess Who's in Town℗ Rivermont RecordsReleased on: 2023-11-03Vocals: Laura Dooge...

20/10/2023

We're just 2 weeks away from the release of the first single by the Fried Seven (the full album follows in January). Step into the studio for a little taste of what's to come...

13/10/2023

We're gearing up to start 2024 with a bang! We've got some exceptionally hot and thrilling jazz in the pipeline, including the debut album (CD/Vinyl/Digital) from the Fried Seven. From their base in Amsterdam, the Fried Seven have been exciting audiences throughout Europe for several years now with their brilliant renditions of jazz classics and obscurities rooted in the mid-1920s styles of King Oliver's Dixie Syncopators, Duke Ellington, and their contemporaries. It's been an absolute delight to work with these first-rate musicians! Along the way to the January 2024 release of the album (called "Late to the Party"), we will be sharing a few singles here -- so stay tuned!

🎉🎉THE FRIED SEVEN X RIVERMONT RECORDS “Late to the Party” 🎉🎉

We’ve been silent about our new album but the time of the release is coming closer and we are gonna start giving you more details about it!

We are really lucky we have signed with the American label Rivermont Records to release our debut album. A record label that shares with us a great passion for this music. Late to the Party will be coming out in the beginning of 2024, but we will give you some singles before that.

FIRST SINGLE COMES OUT IN NOVEMBER! 🗓️🎛️🎤🎧

Keep your eyes open, we will be posting in our social media about it, so you’ll get more details soon.

Many thanks to New Amsterdam Jazz and Amarte Fonds for supporting and making this record real. Thanks to Bryan for believing in this project!

Stay tuned! 🍟🍟🍟

Picture by: Amanda Malia

#1910

31/07/2023

FLASH SALE! Save 50% today on gently used CDs in our bargain bin. Pick up discs by Charlie Barnet, Tony Bennett, Dick Haymes, Frank Sinatra, Glenn Miller, Jo Stafford, Louis Armstrong, and more. Use the following link and put the code "BARGAIN50" (no quotes) at checkout to watch 50% melt away from the total. If your order total (after discount) reaches $50, you'll get FREE SHIPPING too! https://rivermontrecords.com/discount/BARGAIN50?redirect=%2Fcollections%2Fbargain-bin-used-cds

20/07/2023

“Balzac Street Rag,” a masterpiece of modern ragtime, was named for the Southern California street where composer Vincent Matthew Johnson’s paternal grandparents lived. While Johnson attended college, he would often spend his after-school time doing homework and practicing piano in the company of his grandmother in the unlikely serenity of this street tucked between two freeways — an "urban river-side," as Johnson call sit. "Balzac Street Rag" is rich with melodic "inner voices." While classic ragtime does often include inner voice movement, it is rarely more than a four-measure excursion that acts as a countermelody during a stable rhythm. More complex inner voice writing of the sort Johnson employs didn't emerge in ragtime until some of the more classically trained composers of the ragtime revival in the 1960s and '70s started to apply the technique. Perhaps the most elegant writing of inner voices is displayed in William Balcom's famous "Graceful Ghost Rag." The trio of "Balzac Street Rag" is perhaps more Joplinesque than the first two strains, but it is the sense of tonal disorientation that Joplin reserves for "Eugenia's" D-strain that Johnson channels in his C-strain. The closing D-strain begins with an arpeggiated, stepwise ascent, but the harmony is generally more reserved than in the earlier strains until the perfectly balanced, chromatic inner voice walk in the final four bars. Listen to "Balzac Street Rag" played by Max Keenlyside from the Rivermont album "Invincible Syncopations" here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtCh9o0NWTk [Comments by William McNally]

18/07/2023

From the grim realities of the breadline to a thing of exquisite beauty, “Ain’t-Cha Glad” was welcome news in the early '30s that the Depression couldn’t kill off everything. For all of the wonderful music Fats Waller wrote, sadly he never made a recording of this song. Witty, breezy, and catchy, it is one of the finest songs penned in 1933, and the Isham Jones Orchestra does it more than justice in their August 28, 1933 recording. A great arrangement, yet not hot or flashy, and Eddie Stone supplying the vocal all add up to a highly enjoyable listening experience. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALvX1cxm1Us

17/07/2023

In his commentary to the set of exercises called “The School of Ragtime,” Scott Joplin espoused his firm belief that “syncopations are no indication of light or trashy music.” One need look no further than “Gladiolus Rag” for proof. Joseph Lamb cited it as his favorite Joplin rag, and by any metric, it is a masterpiece. For the A and B sections, Joplin works from the “Maple Leaf Rag” template, incorporating some of the refinements he had made to it with “The Cascades” and “Leola.” In the densely-scored C section, Joplin weaves intricate chromatic passages with consummate skill, and he balances a long descent in the left hand with soaring octaves in the right hand. As he does in “Rose Leaf Rag” and “Fig Leaf Rag,” Joplin ends with a D section dominated by a repeating dance-like rhythmic motif, though in this case, he interrupts it just before the end with an exotic two-measure harmonic detour. Although “Gladiolus” is generally of a cheerful disposition, a sense of longing and a tinge of melancholy are never far from the surface. For its remarkable creativity, lyricism, and craftsmanship, Galen Wilkes, Richard Zimmerman, and others have referred to “Gladiolus” as Joplin’s “perfect” rag. Enjoy Will Perkins's masterful performance from his Rivermont album "Snowy Morning Blues": https://youtu.be/mRxXYbDtGKI

09/06/2023

IT'S FINALLY HERE! The Peacherine Ragtime Society Orchestra's new LP debuts today. "Take Me to the Ragtime Dance" features a dozen top ragtime-era tunes (with a modern classic nestled among them), all performed in the PRSO's signature crisp, virtuosic style. Add in a gorgeous cover by Joe Busam, superb audio engineering by Arts Laureate, crisp mastering by Greg Reierson at Rare Form Mastering, and audiophile-grade 180-gram pressings from New Orleans Record Press, and this new LP delivers a thrilling, immersive listening experience. Quantities of the vinyl record are extremely limited (only 140 in stock!) -- stop by the Rivermont website to sample it and buy your copy today. (Only $19.95!) And if you don't "do" vinyl, we've got you covered with MP3 and Apple Lossless download versions as well. Under the direction of founder Andrew Greene, the PRSO was a smash hit at last week's Scott Joplin International Ragtime Festival. Check out the new LP and hear why! https://rivermontrecords.com/products/4747

15/09/2022

Join us September 22-25 for the 2022 Central Pennsylvania Ragtime & American Music Festival! Live performances by more than a half-dozen Rivermont artists including Richard Dowling, Adam G. Swanson, Frederick Hodges, Brian Holland, Bryan Wright, Andrew Greene and the Peacherine Ragtime Society Orchestra, Martin Spitznagel, and Danny Coots. Four days of musical fun in an intimate setting in picturesque Rockhill Furnace, PA. Grammy award winning artists, concerts, silent movies with live music, lectures, steam locomotive train rides with the East Broad Top Railroad and Rockhill Trolley Museum, good food, and more! Visit www.rockhillragtime.com to learn more and get your tickets!

Join us Sept 22-25 2022 for America's most unique music festival, celebrating America's musical heritage of ragtime, jazz, blues, boogie-woogie, and favorites from the Great American Songbook. Held annually in the heart of historic Central Pennsylvania!

04/08/2022

Our new "One Step to Chicago" CD/LP has made it to the Wall Street Journal! Thank you to Will Friedwald for this thorough and thoughtful review, in which he discusses the historical importance of both the original Teschemacher/Condon recordings of the late 1920s as well as Dick Hyman and George Avakian's 1992 revival of those discs that provides the foundation for this new release. For copyright reasons, we are unable to reproduce the full review here, but if you have a WSJ subscription, you can read it here: https://www.wsj.com/articles/one-step-to-chicago-review-eddie-condon-frank-teschemacher-george-avakian-jimmy-mcpartland-dick-hyman-rivermont-records-kenny-davern-jelly-roll-morton-dan-levinson-peter-ecklund-dick-sudhalter-vince-giordano-jon-erik-kellso-ken-peplowski-dan-barrett-milt-hinton-bob-haggart-11659561287

Originally recorded in 1992, this celebratory album finally sees the light, paying tribute to clarinetist Frank Teschemacher and the traditional Chicago sound with two bands featuring Kenny Davern and Dick Hyman alongside many others.

03/08/2022

Early last year in Chicago, singer Roya Naldi joined multi-instrumentalist Andy Schumm and banjoist Jimmy Barrett to record a few tracks that harken back to the small-group jazz of the 1920s. From a Cliff Edwards-inspired "He's the Hottest Man in Town" to the sultry "You Call It Madness (But I Call It Love)," let these tracks add a bit of spice to your summer days! Pick up the limited edition vinyl 78 rpm release or digital download over at the Rivermont website, or give it a whirl in your streaming service of choice. Happy listening!

From Rivermont: https://rivermontrecords.com/products/599

On Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/2g6MiEGcYWA9nJjpFhwgQj?si=hOttF8sNTF6NV3wzSzdhDQ

On Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/album/this-madness-ep/1636955345

Album · 2022 · 4 Songs

20/07/2022

Today at about 12:30 PM, clarinetist Dan Levinson and Rivermont's Bryan Wright will be on the air over WKCR in New York to discuss the new "One Step to Chicago" album with host Sam Seliger. You'll hear about how this remarkable album came to be along with some tracks from the record. Tune in at 89.9 FM in New York City, or online at: https://www.cc-seas.columbia.edu/wkcr/ We hope you'll join us! If you're so inclined, you can pick up a copy of the record (CD, Vinyl, or Digital Download) here: www.rivermontrecords.com/products/2260 -- Thanks!

Tune in to Out To Lunch this Wednesday at noon for a special interview with clarinetist Dan Levinson and Rivermont Records’ Bryan Wright about the album One Step to Chicago: The Legacy of Frank Teschemacher and the Austin High Gang, recorded by George Avakian in 1992 and released this year.

07/07/2022

Really nice spread in the current edition of "Jersey Jazz" about Rivermont's new "One Step to Chicago" CD and LP -- featuring Dan Levinson, Vince Giordano, Dick Hyman, Jon-Erik Kellso, Bob Haggart, Milt Hinton, Kenny Davern, Dick Sudhalter, and so many other jazz luminaries. Read all about it, then check out the CD, record or download here: http://rivermontrecords.com/products/2260 - and consider joining the New Jersey Jazz Society (http://njjs.org)

06/07/2022

The first copies of "One Step to Chicago" are arriving in mailboxes this week! This is the legendary 1992 album (previously unreleased!) produced by George Avakian featuring the exciting jazz music of Frank Teschemacher and the Austin High Gang as played by Dick Hyman, Kenny Davern, Dan Levinson, Vince Giordano, Marty Grosz, and a dozen other all-stars. Did you order it? Share a photo of you and the album... and let us know what you think! Don't have it yet? Get it on CD, Vinyl, or Digital Download here: rivermontrecords.com/products/2260. Thanks for your support!

29/04/2022

Hear ye! Hear ye! Rivermont vinyl 78s are BACK. 3 new records out today! Hot jazz and dance from Josh Duffee and the Graystone Monarchs and the West End Jazz Band along with sensuous vocals of the art deco era by Roya Naldi. Get out your turntable, fix a few drinks, and enjoy thrilling music with the analogue warmth and stunning clarity that only Rivermont's vinyl 78s can provide! https://rivermontrecords.com/products/2022-78-bundle

Specially priced bundle with all 3 newly-recorded and freshly pressed vinyl 78 rpm records from Rivermont: selections by The Graystone Monarchs, Roya Naldi, and The West End Jazz.

27/04/2022

What a thrill to wake up to praise for Rivermont's CD "Invincible Syncopations: The New Ragtime Music of Vincent Matthew Johnson" from no less than the New York Times. In a column titled "Classical Music Doesn't Have to Be Ugly to Be Good," John McWhorter contributes a very thoughtful piece on the aesthetics of "modern" classical music and closes by saying:

"I must add: I have recently had the pleasure of encountering another kind of modern classical music. A few weeks ago, I mentioned that William Bolcom wrote modern ragtime pieces. The young composer Vincent Matthew Johnson has done so more recently, and a recording of several of his works by the pianist Max Keenlyside reveals a composer who has taken the torch passed on since Scott Joplin and created ragtime that continues in the Bolcom spirit and keeps the genre ever moving.

There’s nothing quaint here — some of Johnson’s pieces would be beyond the ability of anyone who’s not a seasoned musician. However, one of his pieces is, to me, just ragtime to a T written in modern language: The whole CD is splendid, but I can’t get enough of 'Blue-Berry Pancakes,' my favorite five minutes of classical music for this month."

Read the whole article here: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/26/opinion/classical-music.html?action=click&module=Well&pgtype=Homepage§ion=Opinion

And if you're so inclined, check out the "Invincible Syncopations" CD here: https://rivermontrecords.com/products/2241

CD featuring the new ragtime music of Vincent Matthew Johnson

11/03/2022

Happy birthday to Chauncey Morehouse, born this day 120 years ago (March 11, 1902). One of the preeminent percussionists of the 1920s, he was a regular in the bands of Jean Goldkette, Paul Specht, Don Voorhees, and others. We'll be celebrating Chauncey Morehouse again later this spring with the release of a nifty new record in his honor. Stay tuned for details!

09/07/2021

We think the new "Collegiate" CD by the Original Cornell Syncopators is pretty special. But don't take our word for it... check out this review from Michael Steinman Jazz Lives! Thank you, Michael! https://jazzlives.wordpress.com/2021/07/07/theres-some-kind-of-magic-going-on-collegiate-by-the-original-cornell-syncopators-rivermont-records-2021/

Words later. First, this magical video: I’ve admired Colin Hancock since 2017, when I heard the first disc by the Original Cornell Syncopators — a group of wonderfully gifted college st…

06/07/2021

NEW RELEASES TODAY! Three new CDs from Rivermont: [1] "Hotsy Totsy Town" by the Dixie Daisies -- excellent pioneering jazz recordings, expertly restored by Christian Zwarg -- [2] "Collegiate" by the Original Cornell Syncopators with Colin Hancock -- campus jazz of the Roaring '20s played by America's premier collegiate early jazz ensemble -- and [3] "Victorian Gardens Ragtime" -- 19 new piano rags from David Thomas Roberts, Vincent M. Johnson, Fred Hoeptner, Brian Holland, Frederick Hodges, and many more. I hope you'll stop by and take a listen -- and maybe even pick up a set for yourself. Get all 3 for a discounted price 'til the end of July! Thanks for your support: http://rivermontrecords.com

14/12/2020

YOU'RE INVITED! Wednesday, December 16 at 7:00 PM (Eastern) to a 1-hour online event to celebrate the Grammy nomination for Rivermont's Nat Brusiloff CD set! Jazz historian David Sager and producer Bryan Wright will present rare audio and video clips of Nat Brusiloff, read excerpts from Sager's Grammy-nominated notes, and share behind-the-scenes stories. Audio engineer Doug Benson will discuss the challenges of restoring Brusiloff's 90-year-old radio recordings for this set. Members of the Brusiloff Family will be on hand to offer first-hand memories and answer questions. Feel free to invite your friends along. Join us on Wednesday at 7:00 PM Eastern at the following Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87569891267?pwd=WEp5MTlZSTVFd0NNaThtbzRGRlNnZz09 Meeting ID: 875 6989 1267
Passcode: 369774